Indian Readership Survey: Hindustan Times is No. 1 in Delhi + Mumbai

HT Media’s other English language publication, business newspaper Mint, retained its position as the clear No. 2 in the market with an average issue readership of 239,000. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Hindustan Times, published by HT Media Ltd, has emerged the most read newspaper across India’s two top markets, Delhi and Mumbai, in terms of advertising and number of readers of English papers.

Hindustan Times has 2.44 million readers in the two cities combined, as compared to the Times of India’s 2.35 million.

Hindustan Times is also the clear leader in Delhi and the National Capital Region with 1.62 million readers as compared to Times of India’s 1.19 million. The latter is Mumbai’s top paper with 1.16 million readers as compared to Hindustan Times’s 830,000.

The numbers are from the latest edition of the Indian Readership Survey, and are based on the so-called Average Issue Readership, or AIR. This metric is simply the number of people who claim to have read a publication within a time period equal to its periodicity.

For newspapers, this is daily, and most advertisers, therefore, consider AIR as regular readership and the best measure of readership of a publication.

The numbers clearly establish Hindustan Times as the biggest newspaper across Delhi and Mumbai, and also the biggest newspaper in Delhi/National Capital Region.

The numbers are not comparable to those from previous editions of the Indian Readership Survey because the methodology used was completely revised.

Hindustan Times also emerged the most-read paper in Punjab with a readership of 268,000, higher than The Tribune’s 236,000 and The Times of India’s 80,000.

HT Media’s other English language publication, business newspaper Mint, retained its position as the clear No. 2 in the market with an average issue readership of 239,000.

The Hindu Business Line has a readership of 148,000 and The Business Standard 107,000. The Economic Times is the top business publication with a readership of 882,000.

Hindi daily Hindustan, published by HT Media Ltd subsidiary Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd, emerged the top paper in Bihar, Jharkand, and Uttarakhand, and the second most-read paper in Uttar Pradesh.

Across these four markets, which constitute India’s Hindi heartland, it has a readership of 17.02 million.